Roo Bear the Blue Bear's Third Month = a Week of New Experiences

I suppose every week Rosalie is experiencing new things, but this week was particularly full of newness. Here are the top three new things of the week.

New Thing #1: Our First Mama and Baby Group Hangout
Alameda has something called the Alameda Family Collective which is a group of over 300 local Alameda families with young children. The collective has a bunch of different meet-ups for all types of interests. On Monday, there was a meetup for moms and babies born in 2014. Our friend who we'll be nanny sharing with was hosting and invited me, so I decided to check it out. There were about 8 or so moms and their babies. For a couple of hours we hung out while our babies sat or crawled around on the floor. It was fun to get to meet other moms and talk about our baby experiences. I'm looking forward to attending a few more of these before I go back to work and hopefully make some good friends for both Rosalie and me. Rosalie seemed to enjoy sitting and watching all of the other babies.

New Thing #2: G-diapers
Being concerned about the environment, I struggled to decide what diapers we would use for Rosalie. In grad school I took a life-cycle assessment class where our final project was to compare two similar products and determine which was less harmful from an environmental perspective. I remember one group compared disposable diapers to cloth diapers. It's hard to definitively say which is "better" for the environment as each has its impacts for production, use and disposal. Disposable diapers like Pampers or Huggies take a lot more energy to produce, but use a lot less water and energy (because they're only used once), whereas reusable diapers create a lot less waste that goes to the landfill, but use more water and energy because you have to launder them.

For the first few months, we decided to just use Seventh Generation disposable diapers. But, this week we made a transition. Instead of going with straight cloth diapers, we went with a middle ground or hybrid approach. gDiapers have a reusable cotton outer shell, an inner reusable liner and a disposable flushable and/or compostable pad insert. Rosalie is sporting her blue gDiaper in the photo above. Using the gDiapers are a little bit more work than the disposables, but it's nice to know that we aren't sending as much waste to the landfill, plus Rosalie looks mighty cute in her colorful diapers.


New Thing #3: Swimming
One of the things I learned from the mama's group was about Aquatech - a swimming school on the
island. Every Monday and Friday they have infant hours where the pool is reserved for babies under 1 year old. We bought Rosalie a swimming diaper and headed out to the pool on Friday. We were in the pool for about 30 minutes and while Rosalie didn't seem to love it, she definitely didn't hate it. She didn't cry at all, and instead seemed to take everything in - from the bright lights, to the pool toys, to the warm 90 degree water. There were at least 10 other babies in the pool and one of the best parts was how friendly other parents were. It was fun to walk around the pool and meet the other babies and parents. We were too scared to put Rosalie's head under water, but may try in later visits.

Here is a video of Rosie getting into the water with Adam:

Rosie is a little peanut

I'll end with her third month photo(s). I'm liking the animated photos that Google plus generates, so you'll see a montage of Rosie on the changing table that can be compared to her other changing table photos. In addition, I took one of her in the rocking chair and next to a stuffed giraffe (thanks Julie). Uncle Jason so astutely observed in the 2 month photo that Rosalie looked like she was shrinking. So hopefully the rocking chair and stuffed animal will give a better sense of her growth over time.

Rosie at 3 months

Bottle Battle: Slip Slop Slippy Slippy Slop

In the last post I wrote how we are preparing Rosalie (and us) for my transition back to work in January by introducing a bottle once a day. 

The first night when she drank 2 ounces it was an anomaly, because she hasn't done anything close to that since. Instead, she shakes her head back and forth avoiding the bottle all together while Adam patiently tries to offer it to her. It's as if she's saying, "You fooled me once! But I won't be fooled again...."

Adam has tried the ole' slip in the bottle while she's just waking up for a nap or when she has sleepy eyes before drifting off, but she hasn't quite latched on to the imitation yet. Hence - the Bottle Battle! It is getting slightly better though. The first couple of days she would scream and cry while shaking her head back and forth. While she still won't drink from the bottle, she has at least let it in her mouth for a little bit the past few tries. We have 4 different bottle varieties and bottle nipples to try too.

Rosalie with Papa Adam

This bottle battle is reflective a slightly larger observation- I hate to say it - but at this point she prefers me (mama) to her papa Adam. And this isn't because Adam is not an active Dad. In the mornings, after work and on weekends he is all in - changing diapers, reading books, singing songs and cuddling with the little peanut. But because I'm with her all day during the week and am the one that is able to provide the nice warm and comfy milk straight from the boob source, she's pretty calm with me.

It took me a while to realize/admit this. During the week, Adam relieves me of baby duty from 5:30pm - 6:30pm and I spend time to myself - usually going for a run or getting some emails done. And usually during this time Rosalie is crying and fussy. It's a horrible sound when your child just cries and cries. I originally chalked this up to the fact that this is her witching hour - early evening. I would try and give Adam tips like - just sing to her or talk to her or "hold her like this." I would try and help him by taking Rosalie and demonstrating the tip. Of course, with me she would magically and instantly stop crying. I think Adam probably wanted to just bop me in the nose for the "helpful" tips. And it was just making him feel bad. Every parent wants to be able to comfort his/her child.

Adam changing Rosie

I finally realized (or admitted) that it really is that she prefers me...right now anyway. And I should let Adam figure his own way of comforting her. I certainly have figured out my own way by spending every minute of the day with her.

So for now, I will enjoy this time when I am able to comfort Rosie and pretty much meet all her needs. I know there will be a day when I won't be able to magically stop her from crying and when she will prefer someone else to me. And in the meantime, I'll hold my tongue as I watch Adam figure out his way of calming Rosie. Those ways include:

• Jogging around the house with her in his arms and singing Woody Guthrie's children song "I'll Eat You, I'll Drink You." This song is awesome. Thanks to Myrna and Leon for getting Rosalie the CD for her baby shower.
  
• Bouncing Rosalie on the big blue ball while talking, reading or singing to her. Usually she's crying/screaming and Adam is wearing his noise cancelling headphones so that he stays calm.

I'll end with a video and a few photos of Rosie:

Animated GIF of Rosie